Gavin

See my smiling baby-

He loves to take a bath.

Especially when his daddy is there to play with him.

And also because his head is covered with ringworm. Yip. Ringworm. You'd think there would be a good guess as to how a baby could have gotten ringworm on his head but apparently it's just a fungus that you can get on warm moist places just like athletes feet. Since I've had a hat on his head most of the time I am guessing that is what happened. Neither dog has it... the other kids don't have it. I haven't gotten it from feeding him. It is a mystery.

Boys- man they start at an early age with the hyjinks. On top of that- behind his ears became really red from drooling I'm supposing and somehow became infected. So every day twice a day he gets cream smothered on his head, a different cream behind the ears, and a medication he swallows three times a day for the bacterial infection. I feel like a terrible mother that my cute little baby has hit the skids but his ears look 80% better, the ringworm is 75% gone, and the medication he still has to take for a few more days. Thankfully it's not an issue. He sucks it right out of the dropper. It must taste great.

So since we saw the pediatrician once again, on Gavin's 5th month birthday he weighs a whopping 19.5 pounds and is 27 inches tall. He no longer can ride in the cute little car seat that snaps on to grocery carts but instead the next size up seat. And since I switched the seat he is much happier not being stuffed like a sausage into the old seat.

Thankfully he still fits into his swing!

Fun Times

 Juli came to visit the baby and brought-

 the bunny. See the pure joy of 5 hours of fun with the bunny on Liv's face?

 See the joy on my face as one kid sleeps.

 Look at that cute little mug. Cutest little baby in the world. I can say that. I am the mom.

 He is also a Saint's fan like his father and Uncle Scott.

This picture is just to reference his size. Gavin is almost as long as the changing pad. I gave birth to that without an epidural. Ouch.

Using the Gifts

Seriously? Is there anything these two can't do?

Olivia's first attempt at the "poto" stick. I don't know why she calls it that but she can jump on it!

This is a scooter that Olivia was given by Santa but since it has two wheels instead of three Ava has taken it over and she's good at it. Guess what she'll be getting for her birthday?

Christmas 2011

This is us waking up and heading downstairs to see if Santa left us anything. Frankly, I don't remember if we were good or not this past year. Should be interesting.

By the look on Gavin's face something hanky was left under tree... yes, another Christmas turd courtesy of Sugar. Off to a good start.

Well it appears some jolly ol' fat man ate the cookies.

And since he left crumbs Ava figured she would help out by eating the crumbs.

Ahh. The joy of still wrapped presents.

The ripping begins.

Even Gavin on his first Christmas got in on the wreckage.

Boy that paper must taste good.

The coveted pillow pet has shown it's head.

And some Wii will be a playin'.

Thank Goodness Santa gave Olivia her own music on her own MP3 player... Now we all don't have to listen to it.

Or so we thought. Thanks Liv you have a beautiful voice.

Mr. Hawkiepoo loved his new blanket and frog.

And his new snazzy jammies with reindeer feet.

My dad chilling out by the fire. Ha! Gavin's nose is still running. Thank goodness we aren't all well for Christmas that would throw off things for years to come.

This may be Gavin's first Christmas but he knows when something belongs to him and he wants it.

My mom back there clutching her coffee...

Ava's awesome present she made for me at preschool.

Viewing the carnage. It's everywhere.

Ava's new cat Snowy. She goes everywhere Ava goes.

I think the kids are lost in there somewhere.

 We had a great Christmas followed by a fantastic Cioppino dinner. Dave and I were blessed this year with our new little Gavin and the completion of our family. The girls are loving school and their teachers. Things are just going really well for us. Here's to 2012 to be even better.

See in the picture over there by the red thing... that's my sanity slip slippin' away. Merry Christmas!

I wonder who's going to clean up that mess?

Kids Mass

Upon arriving at church for Christmas Mass I was dreading that the Mass would be a long one and the kids would get antsy. So to my surprise a woman walked over to us and asked if the girls would like to be in the play. Of course my two little hams said yes and ran away with her. And there we sat. The entire Mass in silence. Even the baby went to sleep. I literally could the angels singing.

Apparently Liv chose to be an angel. Go figure. It has wings. She would never pass on the chance to wear wings.

Ava was a camel. Dave thought she was a cow. Apparently he doesn't know the story of the three kings and baby Jesus. Isn't that where Christmas derived from anyway?

New Rooms

So Gavin was born and Olivia was pretty much displaced for 4 1/2 months. She asked me several times to bring all of her toys into her room but with all of Ava's stuff in there and the fact that some stuff needed to be cleaned and gotten rid of I just didn't have the time. So thankfully my parents came here for Christmas which allowed me a few days to paint Gavin room which brought all of Olivia's things out and into the hall so that I HAD to deal with them.

In a matter of two days Gavin's room was painted. Then I cleaned out Ava's toys and Dave put up some fancy new shelves to hold their belongings. Then he put up shelves in Gavin's room and we added the decorations and we were finally finished. Two great rooms that all three kids love. Olivia ran in to her new room to see the new creation and said, "Wow Ava look- here's my cradle too, and my jellyfish..." That made the week of work so worth every minute.

THE GIRLS' ROOM

 GAVIN'S ROOM

Ava's X-mas party

Santa visited Ava's classroom this year and brought coal...

All the kids got to see first hand what they'd get in their stockings if they weren' t the best little kids Santa knew they could be.

Santa read, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to all the good boys and girls.

Then Ava sat on Santa's lap and told him she wanted a remote control car since her old one had broken.

He offered her a candycane.

And that made Ava grin.

Olivia jumped right up there to tell Santa that she wanted a pillowpet.

And then the three posed for a group Santa shot.

Gavin's first picture with Santa.

Me and my boy. I have to say Gavin is one of the best decisions Dave and I have ever made together. He is such a great baby. He LOVES his sisters and the dogs, and really truly completes us.